Hey, Spike! checks in on a judicial star

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Kari was recently promoted to clerk of the court and jury commissioner for the 5th Judicial District and Summit County Combined Courts in the Justice Center in Breckenridge.

And she just got married.

Working in the court system locally for 23 years, Kari replaces Jan Reed, who died unexpectedly in September.

Kari was interviewed by two district court administrators, Chief Judge Tom Moorhead, Summit County judges Mark Thompson, Karen Romeo and Ed Casias, another clerk of court, and a human resources specialist from the state level.

Previously, she was the court judicial assistant.

The mother of 26-year-old twin daughters, Kari has called Summit County home for almost three decades.

Cami graduated from the Denver School of Nursing and is a hospice nurse and health coach in Santa Barbara, Calif., and also has a yoga-teaching certificate.

Celsea, a University of Colorado grad, works in sales for a company called Integrative Nutrition in New York City.

Both are graduates of the Integrative Nutrition school.

Just last week, Kari and Philip Mervis were married in Santa Barbara.

Philip is also involved in the court system as staff attorney for the local judges, and is a Realtor and Web developer.

He is currently busy helping the nonprofit Adopt an Angel program in alliance with Silverthorne Police Department, where he's doing tech work and helping with promotion, Kari explains.

In addition, Kari is the assistant director of Advocates for Victims of Assault, a group she's been with for 17 years (www.summit

advocates.org" target="_blank">class="NormalParagraphStyle">advocates.org) and is working on her bachelor's degree at Colorado Mountain College.

"The judges and my co-workers in the office are all wonderful," says Kari. "We are a great team and totally support each other in all ways possible."

"We have a new district court administrator, so he and I are learning the ropes together," she says. "My job is entirely different now as a supervisor as opposed to being in the courtroom with the judge."

The new guy is Danny Davis, who worked in a large court in Florida before coming here. He has a law degree, a master's in computer science and a bachelor's in political science.

Danny replaced the just-retired Chris Yuhas.

"He is a Southern gentleman, very mild-mannered, funny and great to all of us staff," Kari says.

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In other social news, Sara Kent is a running activist who lives up near the Breckenridge Golf Club.

"I love to run a Turkey Trot and there's not one up here, so I rounded up a small group of co-workers and customers from Rivers Clothing Co., and some friends and neighbors to run our own little charitable trot.

"The run was meant to be all in fun, but there were a few competitive participants, and I'd have to say Dr. Gary Gaede tore up the course and won by a landslide," says Sara. "The finish included my husband Ben's cinnamon cake and some festive cocktails to get the Thanksgiving Day holiday rolling."

"We raised about $100 and I've decided to give it to Seven Sisters International, a charity set up by our neighbors, Don and Janice Hughes, to help children caught up in the sex slave trade in India," she notes.

Next year they're hoping to have a lot more runners (and bikers and walkers) and there's talk of T-shirts and bibs.

Local friends of Rick Fretland, down in Scottsdale, Ariz., have forwarded an email from the popular former Copper Creek and Raven golf pro, who is facing some challenges.

"Thanks for thinking of me. I had to take another ambulance ride, my fifth in the last 10 months on Oct. 10. I was in for two weeks, seven days on life support, with congestive heart failure (CHF) with a touch of pneumonia and then I developed some blood clots in my arm. Boy, are they painful.

"This hospital visit was hellish - no food or water for nine days and I was restrained for the first 10 days. I got so weak I couldn't even put my glasses on. But I'm out and I feel good, started my cardio rehab program again and I have played a few rounds of golf.

"But once again they couldn't determine the cause of my CHF even though I have gone through every test known to man. Usually CHF comes on gradually but in my case it is instantaneous. That's why he recommended a second opinion, so I am going to go see Dr. James Willerson at the Texas Heart Institute for stem cell therapy. According to my cardiologist he is the most brilliant man he has ever met. Hopefully it works."

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In other local medical news, we welcome back home from Denver Jim Chandler of Breckenridge and Chuck "CJ" Julin of Copper Mountain.

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Miles F. Porter IV, nicknamed "Spike," a Coloradan since 1949, is an Army veteran, former Climax miner, graduate of Adams State College, and a local since 1982. An award-winning investigative reporter, he and wife Mary E. Staby owned newspapers here for 20 years.